I’m not sure about you, but I often find myself humming or singing along as someone on TV sings “the touch the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives.” But have you ever stopped to wonder why there are ads for cotton on TV?
Well, its easy enough of an answer. The ad campaigns for cotton are funded through a commodity program that seeks to increase the marketability of my favorite fiber. And Cotton Inc. comes up with the awesome creative (as you probably guessed, the Zooey Deschanel part of the campaign cause I love her voice and sense of style too).
What a lot of people don’t realize is that cotton farmers pay for those ads as do people who import cotton. It’s a way for these groups to pool funds to support market awareness. It’s fairly easy to understand that farmers would like to keep cotton top of mind and since the makers of all the synthetic fibers like polyester have ad budgets, advertising is part of it. I can certainly remember various fibers — rayon, tencel, etc suggesting they have benefits over natural fiber.
Another part of the financial resources goes to research and development of textile processes, cotton production practices, etc which help keep cotton competitive with synthetic fibers in other areas or even help discover new uses. Those activities help provide a return to the people funding the program. It is pretty ingenious and I have to say, for me, the ads provide a look at natural fibers as fashionable and comfortable.
And knowing how much goes into the seal of cotton (all that research in endorsed by farmers), I always feel buying a product that has the familiar cotton logo on it!
If that’s not all reason enough to check into the things cotton farmers are funding, I’ll be a name dropper. Long-time friend in the cotton industry, Louisiana cotton farmer Jay Hardwick currently is serving as the chairman of Cotton Inc. And Jay totally rocks! If you don’t know that, you must have missed the spot America’s Heartland did on Jay Hardwick last year — you really should get caught up on that. 🙂
Information for people who enjoy cotton clothes and textiles is available from:
- Websites for Cotton Inc include the fashion-oriented thefabricofourlives.com,
- There is a Facebook cotton page (who doesn’t “like” cotton?)
- Fashionable tweets go out from @CottonFashion.
- And great videos are on the CottonFabricofOurLives YouTube Channel.
Farmers, importers, etc who want information on the programs of Cotton Inc can check out:
- The organization’s activities on a broader basis cottoninc.com — you should also check out the sustainability site at CottonToday
- You can like Cotton Inc on Facebook for info.
- Tweets from @CottonInc
Very well said. And Cotton Inc is a wonderful company. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of them on class projects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
They really are great folks! I have SEVERAL friends there!
Love that cotton commercial from a few years back! I’ve always liked cotton. My mother brought me up thinking that was the best, and I still think so. Next up, hope you write a blog article on knitting with cotton. 😉
Thanks for helping me track down knitpurl! I hope to hear back from her to get a knitter’s perspective on fiber!
Thanks for the article! I love all of the ads they’ve put out but when I visit the site, thefabricofourlives.com, I find myself scratching my head. Good to know the actual point of the campaign, although I don’t think it would be a terrible idea to have an online store with some cotton made clothes. I know after watching the ads I find myself wanting to buy a comfy cotton t shirt.
Interesting idea… I think it would be hard to do but that doesn’t mean impossible! Will try to get the suggestion to people at Cotton Inc. 🙂 thanks for coming by & joining the conversation!
I’ve been trying to shop for cotton online and cannot find a store. I think it would be a fantastic idea to put some cotton tees and sweaters on your site. I would definitely support you
Thank you…. Will check into that!